Kentucky transfer Denzel Aberdeen commits to Florida out of NCAA Transfer Portal

Kentucky senior guard Denzel Aberdeen has committed to transfer to Florida on Friday, according to On3’s Joe Tipton. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein was first to report Aberdeen’s commitment.

With the move, Aberdeen reunites with Gators head coach Todd Golden after playing an integral part during Florida’s 2025 national championship run. Aberdeen will need an eligibility waiver from the NCAA to play for the Gators in 2026-27 after exhausting his four years of collegiate eligibility.

The 6-foot-5 Aberdeen averaged a career-best 13.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 30.6 minutes per game while starting 35 of the 36 games in which he appeared this past season. It was a breakout year in Lexington, where Aberdeen set career highs in minutes played, made field goals, field-goal percentage, made 3-pointers, 3-point field-goal percentage, total rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals to go along with his scoring prowess.

“Denzel is awesome, man,” Pope said of Aberdeen early last season. “He is. He’s pretty good about not carrying emotional weight around with him because you can during the course of a game. You can just start to pile on emotional weight, good and bad and sideways and all the things. He’s pretty good about not carrying a bunch of emotional weight. …

“He’s got a pretty special competitor’s heart where he just is — he’s a good model for our guys in the sense of he’s just on to the next thing. He’s not carrying a ton of baggage with him, and I think that’s one of the reasons why he functioned at a pretty high level in this game on the road. He’s pretty used to just moving on to the next play, next play, next play. That’s something our team will get really good at, but we’re not great at yet in a tough environment.”

Aberdeen previously averaged 7.7 points on 41.8% shooting as a junior during Florida’s 2024-25 national championship-winning season. He has appeared in 119 total games over the past four seasons, including at least 32 in each of the last three years, and must hope for a little grace from the NCAA to continue his collegiate career where it all began.

Aberdeen’s eligibility appeal could involve his true freshman season in Gainesville (2022-23), when he appeared in only 12 contests and had just 19 total points in 41 combined minutes on the floor for the Gators.

— On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.